


Opportunity and Curiosity

by Manuscriptor



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: :3c, Gen, Murder Mystery, My First Work in This Fandom, Pack Bonding, Science Fiction, also I don't know exactly how complicated she is, hey Juno and Rita are on Mars and so is Oppy, is this a fix it fic for Oppy? Yes it is, of the human kind, or how she operates so take this with a grain of salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 22:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17796008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manuscriptor/pseuds/Manuscriptor
Summary: While he's burying a body after a particularly rough case, Juno finds a strange robot under the sands outside Hyperion City. He doesn't know exactly what it is but the tech looks old so he takes it back to the office for Rita to examine.OrJuno discovers the remains of Opportunity, the Mars Rover that recently passed away





	Opportunity and Curiosity

The only reason Juno was outside the limits of Hyperion City was a case.

The only reason Juno was digging a hole in the red dirt in the huge expanse of desert was the body slumped on the ground behind him that needed to be buried before it attracted any unwanted attention.

The case had been a crazy one, more crazy that usual. As if political corruption wasn’t crazy. Juno thought the case would be something small that would take his mind off everything else that had been going on. All the brainwashing and the chaos and the freaky technology. He should have known better, especially when Rita had said the email had been trying to download viruses onto her computer when she opened it.

Destructive little thing.

Juno didn’t care that much as long as she could get the information that he needed.

Simple.

Everything was always supposed to be simple.

Nothing ever was.

Juno grunted as he lifted another shovelful of dirt and hefted it over his shoulder. The wonky gravity made digging a little awkward, but he could handle it. He could handle just about anything after the last twenty-four hours. He was exhausted, just wanted to go back to his apartment and lay down. Rita was cleaning up the technical side of the case, going through and erasing evidence off her computer. That left Juno to deal with the more physical side of things.

He paused in his digging to survey his work and mentally measure the dimensions he had managed to get so far. Would it be big enough for the body? He looked back and forth from the hole to the poor schmuck that would be getting buried.

It had been a guard.

Guards were always the ones that seemed to get caught in the crossfire. At least it hadn’t been a civilian.

The man was heavy set, obviously from a better side of town where he could get the food and luxury that could afford a body like his. Juno had stripped him of his body armor and weapons, potentially valuable resources he could use. Even though they didn’t look like they would fit him and were slightly worn with use.

Juno paused in his digging to catch his breath. The helmet around his head was tight around his throat, not entirely uncomfortable but a definite reminder that there was only a small barrier between him and suffocating. Just a nice reminder of his own humanity. It also helped that he had a still-cooling blaster tucked in the waistband of his pants. That was a reminder of what he had done.

He hadn’t meant to shoot anyone. No one ever means to shoot anyone of course, but sometimes the situation calls for it. Juno had been in a situation that called for it.

Did it call for it?

The job was supposed to be a simple one.

There had been a break-in at the computer and prosthetics repair shop on the main drag, and the owner had called Juno to track down who had done it. Apparently important tech had been taken and the owner wanted it returned, intact preferably. But sometimes Juno made mistakes. It wasn’t a big deal. As long as the other guy didn’t end up with the stolen goods, the owner was going to be happy.

Juno had tracked the thief to a high-standing brothel and had paid his way inside. Again, not a big deal. In Juno’s experience, anyone in that line of work was polite and respectful and didn’t ask that many questions. Sure, he had had to pay for a golden room with one of the top performers but that was only because he had needed a reason to venture further into the establishment. Rita had enjoyed the opportunity plenty anyway.

Juno pushed his shovel into the dirt, getting back to work. He only had a limited amount of time before the heat of the sun began to fade and a simple helmet wouldn’t protect him from freezing temperatures.

The brothel had only been the first stop in the whole case.

While there, Juno had figured out that the technology was a new medical advancement in the field, a new sort of biological material that would be extremely lucrative to whichever company managed to put it out on the market. Obviously it was a hot topic item. It was money waiting to happen, and Juno’s employer wanted that money.

A development in the case, but nothing that would stop Juno.

After a mad chase through the floor of the brothel, Juno had followed the thief out into the street and to the next location of the case.

Where the guards came in.

Juno should have realized that whoever had hired the thief wasn’t just some no-name whoever sitting in their fancy apartment, rubbing their hands together at the thought of all the money they could be earning.

Nope. Not in the slightest.

Instead, obviously, it was some other business man with a company that was already raking in billions. Juno wanted to kick himself for not realizing it sooner. Some puffed-up big-name jerking off into a wad of money, thinking about all the other money they could get their hands on.

Juno was disgusted but not surprised.

That’s where the guards had come in. Hired to protect the CEO and really, it wasn’t their fault that they were in between Juno’s blaster and his target. They were just doing their jobs and Juno had to respect them for that. He hadn’t meant to do anything more than hurt and incapacitate them. He had never planned on killing anyone unless it was the edgelord with too much money shoved up their ass.

Of course, one of the guards had been some self-sacrificing hero. Juno didn’t get it. The man had thrown himself in front of the blast at the last second.

Luckily, Juno had had the power amped up a little too high. The bolt of energy had passed straight through the man and caught the CEO as well. Two birds with one stone. Juno was really trying to avoid that phrase. It felt a bit rude in light of what he was doing now.

That matter aside, after the one shot, the other guards had quickly realized that he had meant business and went running. With the clear room, Juno had had the chance to collect the infamous technology and stuff it into his bag.

The blast had lost most of its power after passing through the guard, so the CEO only slumped in their chair, suit a little charred but otherwise intact. Juno couldn’t very well make a well-known CEO disappear overnight. Their secretary would find them in the morning and the news could interpret it as it wanted to. The guard, on the other hand, was a different matter.

Juno didn’t want the poor man’s family getting caught up in whatever investigation that was the result of the CEO’s death. They didn’t need that sort of trouble. So he needed to get rid of the body.

He had managed to pull Rita away from the golden room back at the brothel where she was still very much enjoying herself. After convincing her he only had one request that would take less than five minutes, she had relented and gotten him passage outside the dome with little to no questions.

Amazing.

She was amazing.

Juno had told her so before she had disappeared back into the room.

And that’s how Juno had found himself here, in the desert of Mars with both a dead body and tech worth millions. As soon as he buried the first, he could take the second back to his employer and be done with the whole case. He could get Rita from the brothel and go home and relax for the rest of the night like he deserved. No hard work until he had emotionally recovered from the political scandal. What did Rita call it?

Oh yeah, self care.

Juno needed some self care.

He hoisted another shovelful of dirt out of his hole and checked his progress. Damnit, just a little bit more. Perhaps a little bit deeper and the body wouldn’t be picked up by any scans from probes. At least, immediately. Eventually it would be found, Juno just wanted it to be mostly skeleton when that happened. The police could use a good murder mystery to get them off their asses.

Juno brought the shovel down hard, wanting to get this job done as soon as possible to get home.

It didn’t slid through the dirt like all his other strikes though. This time, it clunked against metal that stopped it short, and Juno frowned.

Now, what could be buried outside Hyperion City? Surely he hadn’t chosen the burial site from another murder-gone-wrong. But no, the sound had been distinctly metal, not bone or anything like that. What was something metal that would be buried outside of Hyperion City?

Juno stupidly thought treasure, like a child who still believed stories about space pirates and space treasure and other space-y things. He quickly brushed that thought aside. Nobody buried treasure in the Mars deserts. Nobody that was smart anyway.

Juno shoveled away what he could, quickly uncovered a flat metal surface that made him think of a safe or deposit box. As he cleared the dirt around his discovery though, he found wheels and wires that dismissed the theory of a plain metal box. As soon as he saw that it was something a bit more delicate than a chunk of metal, Juno worked a bit more carefully.

He dug around the machine, for it was surely a machine. A huge vehicle it seemed.

Well, calling it huge was a bit of a stretch. It was about half the size of a normal transportation vehicle. He uncovered a wide base with six wheels. When he rubbed his sleeve over the surface, he was surprised to find ancient solar panels. Now, those things were archaic. Things like that hadn’t been used in years.

This thing was definitely old.

Juno dug a bit more quickly now, finding a broken column, the pole that attached to the broken column, and several other loose parts. He had to pause halfway through the excavation to catch his breath. The filter in his helmet worked well enough to get him oxygen at a base breathing level, but he was starting to pant from exhaustion and feel light headed as the filter couldn’t keep up with him.

He sat at the edge of his hole, now more than big enough for the body but now held his strange discovery. Once he had caught his breath, Juno pushed himself back down into the hole and scooped up his shovel to get back to work.

It took several more minutes to finally clear all the wheels from dirt and he took several minutes after that to wipe down all the solar panels just so that they didn’t look so dirty. The thing almost looked cute when it wasn’t so caked with red mud.

Juno decided it was some sort of robot. He wasn’t exactly sure what kind. The pole he had uncovered had what looked like a very rudimentary camera fastened on top. With its wide surface and multitude of wheels, perhaps it was some sort of domestic-service robot, designed to carry drinks and food and small packages from room to room. Perhaps it was some sort of surveillance bot, designed to cover a programmed path and watch out for intruders with its camera.

Juno couldn’t really guess. Rita was the one who cared about robots like this, not him.

Still, Juno couldn’t bring himself to abandon the thing. He tossed his shovel out of the hole and squatted down behind the machine, bracing his hands against its bumper and giving it a huge push, trying to shove it up the slanted side of his hole so that it wouldn’t be in the way when he dumped the body inside.

That took a whole hour and a half of huffing and pushing and struggling before Juno managed to get the thing up and over the edge and onto the flat surface outside the hole. He heaved himself up after it and collapsed next to it, limbs shaking form the whole ordeal. Damn, he really needed exercise. He could run from bad guys easy enough but anything physical he usually avoided. This was horribly telling.

He wasn’t sure how long he lay there, but he eventually got his breath back for a second time and was able to heave himself back to his feet.

He dumped the body unceremoniously into the hole that was now way too big for its purpose, quickly kicking and shoveling enough dirt to cover it completely. He filled up the hole completely and then kicked over the top dirt, trying to make it look like someone hadn’t spent over an hour digging a hole to hide something suspicious. Satisfied with his work, Juno added the shovel to his bag, slung that onto his back, and got behind the robot a second time, bracing his shoulder against it and starting the long trip home.

It was . . . . definitely a trip.

Juno had definitely seen weirder things than a dirt-covered robot on the streets of Hyperion City but that didn’t stop people from staring at him. He was dirty and exhausted and sweating a lot more than he was used too and was definitely doubting whether this damn hunk of metal was actually worth it.

He didn’t stop though. He pushed it dutifully down the sidewalk all the way back to his apartment, thankful for the first time for the elevator that he could take all the way up to his floor.

He had to tip the entire thing on its side just to get it through his doorway but finally, it was sitting in his living room, looking a lot less impressive in the dim lighting and sitting on the scrappy, threadbare rugs. At least it had been found on the curb, like all of his other furniture. Juno figured as soon as he got it cleaned up more thoroughly, it would either fit in just right or be taken apart for whatever scraps that Rita could use.

Juno dumped his bag on the kitchen counter, make a mental note to return the medical technology the next day. He grabbed a drink out of his fridge and kicked off his shoes instead, jumping up onto the counter and taking a long swig as he pulled out his phone. He took another drink and called Rita, like he usually did at the end of a case.

Of course he got voicemail. She was probably racking up a tab back at the brothel.

“Rita, it’s me,” he said when prompted to leave a message. He took a long drink. “Look, I finished the case and got the stuff. You can come back to the office. . . . whenever you feel like it.” He looked across the room at the robot that sat in his living room. “I also found something interesting. That you might like. So you should, uh, come see it.”

He hung up and continued drinking.

At some point, he stumbled to the back room so he could collapse in his usual chair. He fell asleep with his feet up on his desk, chair leaned dangerously far back, and the empty bottle of booze sitting on the floor just beneath his hand. And he didn’t wake up until the door was slamming shut and Rita was shouting for him.

“Mistah Steel!” she yelled. “I got your message but I was a little, uh, preoccupied. I’m here now though. I’m so glad you figured out the case all on your own. It was pretty easy to guess that it was the CEO. Of _course_ they want more money, never satisfied I tell you. They should take a good long look at their lives and -- Oh! Mistah Steel! What’s in your living room?! It looks like some kind of robot!”

Juno rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pushed himself to his feet, making his way out into the main room, ready to explain the whole ordeal to her.

Rita was already climbing all over the robot, a box of tools at her feet and a wild look in her eyes.

“I found it out in the desert,” Juno said, not sure if he could say anything about the robot that Rita didn’t already know. “I was digging a hole for a body and found that.”

Rita didn’t even bat an eye at his explanation. She was using a rag and some sort of cleaning liquid to wipe down the robot a lot better than Juno had managed. In no time at all, she had a majority the dirt off the panels and on the floor, and in the next moment, she had the pole and the camera reattached where it was supposed to be.

“This is _amazing_ , Mistah Steel,” she said, barely sparing him a glance while she worked. “This is some sort of old technology. Nothing that I’ve ever seen before which is amazing because I’ve seen a lot of technology. This camera looks old too. I’m not sure if anything even works any more.”

“You think it’s broken?” Juno asked, debating if he could sneak back into the kitchen for another drink.

Rita was shaking her head in a moment, her red curls bouncing with the movement. “Nothing that I can’t fix!” she declared confidently. “Just give me a couple hours.”

Two drinks and another nap later, Juno was woken again by an overly excited Rita practically vibrating with energy. She was shaking him away with a smile, almost squealing with barely contained excitement. Her face was smeared with oil and red dirt, but she had never looked more alive.

“I think it got it, Mistah Steel!” she said. “I think I woke her up!”

“Her?” Juno said, pushed himself out of his chair and letting himself be dragged out of his office.

“The robot!” Rita said. “I got her to wake up! All she needed was a couple new wires, a good cleaning, and a bath in the sun. Those are some ancient looking solar panels, Mistah Steel. If we plan on keeping her, we should definitely replace them. It took her nearly an hour to charge and that’s only halfway. I suggest we take introductions a little slow since she’s not up and fully running.”

Juno was still trying to process all the information when Rite shoved him forward in front of the robot.

With its camera reattached and its wheels realigned, it stood a lot taller than it had before. The black circle of the camera was now eye-to-eye with Juno, cold and a little unnerving. Juno wasn’t sure how Rita had attached a personality to it so quickly. He had to admit though, it looked a lot better than it had before. Its solar panels gleamed and it didn’t have odd wires sticking out here and there. It was still a little cobbled together, as Rita used current tech to fix the old thing.

“Say hello, Mistah Steel,” Rita said, jumping over to the robot’s side and resting a hand on its back. Like a proud mother.

“Hello?” Juno said. The robot didn’t even look sentient enough to respond.

“My battery is half full, and it is dim,” the robot said in a very feminine voice, which is how Rita must’ve arrived at ‘she.’

Rita puffed out her chest proudly. “I gave her a voice module,” she said. “She only spoke in radio waves but this translates her so we can understand her. Oh, isn’t she cute, Mistah Steel? She said her name is Opportunity and she’s from earth and apparently she’s been on Mars for a long _time_.”

“Last contact with DNS,” Opportunity said. “2018.”

It was a little awkward to hear such a clear voice coming out of such an ancient looking robot.

“2018?” Juno said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. “That was--”

“A while ago, I _know_ ,” Rita said, flapping her hands in excitement. “Isn’t she amazing? Tech from Earth that’s still working? It’s practically unheard of. Please tell me we’re keeping her, Mistah Steel! Oh please! We can’t kick her out! Not after everything she’s been through. She needs a good home!”

“You think this place is a good home?” Juno said, looking around at the mess of his apartment.

Rita was barely listening to him. “ _Please_ , Mistah Steel! Please, please, please, please, _please_! I ain't kicking her out of the apartment. You have to do that! You have to look into her beautiful eyes and tell her that she isn't welcome, cuz I ain't doing it!”

Juno looked deep into the robot's single black lense, the only real eye that Rita could be referring to. It was dark and emotionless, not begging or pleading or even pathetic looking. It was just a lense. It was just technology, and he really didn't understand how Rita had gotten so attached so quickly.

“Fine,” he relented, because Rita was looking at him like he was the world and if he said no to that, he would never hear the end of it. “But we can't call her Opportunity. That's too. . . . long.”

“Other designations that I can be called,” Opportunity said. “Oppy.”

“Oppy!” Rita squealed, wrapping her arms around the column holding the camera in the most awkward hug Juno had ever seen. “That's so cute! You are going to have such a good time here, Oppy. Mistah Steel can be a little grumpy but he's actually very nice once you get past his tough exterior. Oh! You can stay in my office! There's big windows and plenty of room and we can watch TV together. I gotta show you all the stuff you've missed out on since you've been asleep. There's so many soap operas!”

“I don't think you should overwhelm her all at once,” Juno said, but Rita was already pushing Oppy back into her office, one that was much better lit that Juno's.

He had to step forward and help her get the huge robot into the other room, but Oppy fit right next to the window with plenty of space left to move around her. It was a good spot for her. Even though the sun was starting to set, the last few rays of the day fell brightly over her solar panels. She would need the battery life to fully recover. Rita was absolutely ecstatic about the new roommate, already pulling things off her desk to wave in front of the camera. Juno let her, still exhausted from the burial and from lugging the robot everywhere. He stepped out of Rita's office to give her some privacy, but she was so loud that he could still hear everything she was saying.

“Here are all the case files that I keep for Mistah Steel,” she was currently saying. “All the information about the job he does and his clients and the places he goes. It's a lot of hard work cuz Mistah Steel don't like writing things down. That's what I'm for. I make sure everything is neat and in order. Oh! This is my computer. It's where I watch all my TV dramas. Mistah Steel doesn't like it when I watch them while I'm supposed to be working but it gets so boring when he's not on a case cuz I have nothing to do. Anyway, I gotta show you all the backlogged episodes of all my favorite shows. It'll be do much fun, Oppy! Oooo!! I'm so excited to have another person in the office! It gets kinda lonely with just Mistah Steel and me. I'm glad he found you, Oppy.”

Juno snorted but softly because Rita seemed so genuinely happy to have to robot to talk to. He didn't want to take that away from her. Besides, he guessed she would get bored of it quickly. Oppy was a robot and an old one at that. She didn't seem like a huge conversationalist. Once Rita realized that she wouldn't be getting the same enthusiastic responses from the robot as she thought she would, she would either take the robot apart for parts or ask Juno to put her out on the curb.

“You can help with the cases too, Oppy,” Rita was saying now. “I'm sure once we figure out what your talents are, we'll find the perfect spot. Mistah Steel can be a bit of a mess sometimes and always needs extra help. I could probably make you some hands too if I can get the materials. Oh! There's so many upgrades that I can give you, Oppy. It's been so long since you've been functioning, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff that you've missed. In fact! If you want, you can tell me all about _your_ life. You could tell me about Earth! I always want to hear about Earth! Not many people want to talk about Earth though, in account of what happened and all. You could tell me what it was like before.”

Juno had been about to go into his office, but he paused when he heard Rita say that.

Earth.

What it was like before.

He would love to hear stories about the home planet of the universe, the human cradle as it was so often called. To hear about what it was like Before was a rare opportunity. Juno had never been to Earth, didn't have the money to travel there anytime soon. And why would he? The place was a dump, even worse than Mars, and probably full of twice as many corrupt business owners and politicians. Still, curiosity gnawed at his stomach, and he backtracked into the living room so that he could hear Oppy's response. If she gave one.

“DNS still offline,” Oppy said. “Cannot connect. Nothing to report.”

“That's okay,” Rita said. “You don't have to tell me anything right now you if you don't want. Wait until you're good and ready. I'm not gonna push you.”

Juno sighed in disappointment and slumped against the wall. He had really wanted to hear. Still, if there was a possibility that Oppy could tell them, perhaps they should keep her around a bit longer. She gave Rita someone to talk to besides Juno and didn't take up too much room in the apartment. And if all she needed was sunlight to charge, then she wasn't going to take up too much electricity and run up the bill.

Juno decided that, for now, Oppy could stay.

“But everything's okay, right?” Rita asked. “You'll tell me if something goes wrong, won't you, Oppy? Cuz I can fix you. I'm handy like that. Mistah Steel says he keeps me around cuz I can understand computers and such, and you're just like a computer, so if something doesn't go wrong I can fix you. Alright? But you gotta tell be cuz I ain't gonna go poking around in your parts without your permission.”

“My battery is almost full,” Oppy said. “And it is light.”

Juno smirked at the words, personally satisfied with the answer, and headed back to his office.

**Author's Note:**

> hey, I'm on Tumblr @manuscript-or


End file.
